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Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish football manager who is currently the manager of Liverpool F.C. He left Swansea City to sign a three-year deal with the club on 31 May 2012, following the departure of Kenny Dalglish on 16 May. Liverpool career After the departure of Dalglish, Liverpool's owners the Fenway Sports Group moved to identify a number of potential candidates for the manager's role. They approached Brendan Rodgers on 18 May, however he initially rejected their advances, being unprepared to enter into competition with numerous other individuals. Over the next two weeks, FSG were purported to have reduced their shortlist to Wigan Athletic's Roberto Martinez and Rodgers, who they had not given up hope of persuading to hold talks with them. The club made it clear to Rodgers that he was their first-choice target and this encouraged him to engage in talks. Reports emerged of an agreement being close to completion between FSG and Rodgers late on 28 May and by 30 May, it was confirmed that Rodgers had agreed a three-year contract to move to Merseyside. Swansea were compensated a fee in the region of £7,000,000 by Liverpool. Liverpool officially unveiled Rodgers as manager on 1 June 2012. Of his appointment, Rodgers said "I am very proud and feel very blessed to be appointed today. It's obviously a club with an incredible tradition and history and I'm very, very proud and honoured to be appointed manager." He also outlined his vision to help the club work towards claiming a first League title in over two decades, stating: "We might not be ready for the title now but the process begins today." Rodgers took Liverpool on a tour of North America before making his competitive managerial debut for the Reds on 2 August 2012. This came away to Belarussian side FC Gomel in the Europa League third qualifying round, and he guided his side to a 1-0 win thanks to a long-range Stewart Downing strike. The return leg marked Rodgers' Anfield debut, and his Liverpool team produced an electric display as they dispatched Gomel 3-0. Fabio Borini- who had been Rodgers' first buy as Liverpool manager- hit his first Liverpool goal in this game. Rodgers went on to make two further signings- his former Swansea midfield lynchpin Joe Allen on 10 August, and Moroccan winger Oussama Assaidi on 17 August before taking charge of his first Premier League game with Liverpool on 18 August. The match was away to West Brom, and unfortunately for Rodgers, he witnessed his team suffer a 3-0 defeat. Defender Daniel Agger was sent off in the match, and West Brom were awarded two penalties, of which they converted one. Rodgers called all three decisions 'harsh' and defended the performance of his team, but acknowledged his task to restore Liverpool to the elite of English football would be a difficult one. After four more Premier League games without a victory- the first time Liverpool had failed to register a win in their first five League games since the 1911-12 season, Rodgers made a complaint to Mike Dean- head of the League's referees regarding what he felt was a string of poor officiating decisions that were costing his team points. On 29 September 2012 however, Rodgers achieved his first League win as Liverpool manager with a 5-2 victory away at Norwich City. He then guided the Reds to their first home League win of the season- a 1-0 victory over Rodgers' former club Reading on 20 October 2012. On 31 October 2012, Rodgers led Liverpool against his former club Swansea for the first time, but was on the losing side as Swansea claimed a 3-1 win in the League Cup. On 9 December 2012, Rodgers won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time as Liverpool boss, with a 3-2 victory at West Ham following a 1-0 win against Southampton the week before. On 30 December 2012, Rodgers was forced to miss Liverpool's game away to QPR due to illness. His assistant Colin Pascoe deputised on the sidelines in the 3-0 win. Stats See also *Brendan Rodgers/Transfers External links *Brendan Rodger's managerial stats at Soccerbase. Rodgers